Novel application of CRISPR/Cas9 in
plants – Visualizing DNA in living
cells
09/2017
Gatersleben, June
15th
2017. A research team around
Andreas Houben from the Leibniz Institute of Plant
Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben and
PRESS RELEASE
•
Holger Puchta from the Botanical Institute of the Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology developed a method to visualize
Publication in The Plant
Journal
•
New method for
defined genomic sequences in living plant cells and
Visualization of Defined
demonstrated its ability to reveal dynamic movements of
Genomic Sequences
chromosome ends. This method allows the analysis of the
and their interactions
spatio-temporal organization of the genome. It holds the
with proteins in living
potential to improve our understanding of how genome
plant cells
structure and function are intertwined. .
The spatial and temporal organization of genomes is important
for maintaining and regulating cell functions such as gene
expression, DNA replication and repair, and proper segregation
of genetic material during cell division. Therefore, elucidating
how the genome is spatio-temporally organized inside the
nucleus is imperative to understand how genes and non-coding
DNA sequences are regulated during development. Mapping
the functional organization of the genome can be achieved by
visualizing interactions between different genomic elements in
living cells. “While fluorescence-tagged nuclear proteins can be
readily imaged in living plant cells, in vivo visualization of
defined DNA sequences turned out to be technically difficult”,
explains Andreas Houben, head of the research group
Chromosome Structure and Function of the IPK.
The discovery of the bacterial originated CRISPR-Cas9 system
(type II clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic
repeats CRISPR-associated caspase) revolutionized the field of
the targeted genome editing in the last five years and has
become a routine technology. “By harnessing this system for
live cell imaging in plants, our team shows the potential of this
technology reaches far beyond the controlled induction of
mutations”, explains Steven Dreissig, IPK scientist and first
author of the study. “We demonstrate reliable imaging of
telomere repeats located at the ends of the chromosome arms
in living cells of Nicotiana benthamiana, a close Australian
relative of tobacco, and pave the way for potential visualization
of multiple genomic loci.”
“Furthermore, we show that CRISPR-Cas9 can be combined
with fluorescence-labelled proteins to investigate DNA-protein
interactions in living cells”, adds Holger Puchta, Director of the
Botanical Institute in Karlsruhe.
This recent development may potentially enable plant scientists
to visualize single genomic loci in living cells. Now the
researchers report the outcome of their joint work in The Plant
Journal.
Characters: 2.674 (incl. space characters)
Publication: Steven Dreissig, Simon Schiml, Patrick Schindele,
Oda Weiss, Twan Rutten, Veit Schubert, Evgeny Gladilin,
Michael Florian Mette, Holger Puchta & Andreas Houben
(2017): Live cell CRISPR-imaging in plants reveals dynamic
telomere movement. The Plant Journal, DOI:
dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13601
Picture (Seven Days download):
https://transfer.ipk-gatersleben.de/upload2/KOp755co/
Title: Living nucleus of the plant Nicotiana benthamiana shows
red fluorescent labelled telomere sequences (Dreissig/IPK).
Further Informationen:
Das Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und
Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) in Gatersleben ist eine
außeruniversitäre, mit Bundes- und Ländermitteln geförderte
Forschungseinrichtung und Mitglied der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
Am IPK forschen und arbeiten mehr als 500 Mitarbeiter/-innen
aus über 30 Nationen. Zentrales Anliegen der
wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten am IPK ist die Untersuchung der
genetischen Vielfalt von Kultur- und verwandten Wildpflanzen
und der Prozesse, die zu ihrem Entstehen geführt haben.
Daraus abgeleitet erfolgt die Aufklärung der molekularen
Mechanismen, die zur Ausprägung und Variation pflanzlicher
Merkmale beitragen. Hieraus erwachsende Erkenntnisse
ermöglichen die Entwicklung und Anwendung von Strategien zu
einer vertieften Charakterisierung und darauf aufbauend zu
einer wissensbasierten Nutzbarmachung der in der Genbank
vorgehaltenen pflanzengenetischen Ressourcen.
www.ipk-gatersleben.de
Media Contact:
Regina Devrient, IPK
Geschäftsstelle des Direktoriums I Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Tel. +49 039482 5837
E-Mail: [email protected]